


Hi Honey!

by ClockworkDinosaur



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 4
Genre: Angst, Gen, Short
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-25
Updated: 2016-02-25
Packaged: 2018-05-23 02:33:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6101908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ClockworkDinosaur/pseuds/ClockworkDinosaur
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Nate records a message for his wife.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hi Honey!

**Author's Note:**

> A quick sad-ish fic that I wrote because I just beat Fallout 4 for the first time.

She had been putting it off for days. She reminded herself that those days had been challenging to say the least, and she'd had very few quiet hours to herself between dodging bullets in the irradiated hellscape she'd once called home and asking anyone who would listen about a man carrying a newborn infant. Still, she knew that she'd had several quiet hours where she had taken out the orange holodisk, turned it in her hands for a while, then quietly stashed it away.  
That night was different. Outside of the old shack, the radiation storm raged, the Geiger counter on her Pip-Boy ticking every so often when the radiation levels spiked with each boom of thunder. The shelter did little more than keep her out of the worst of it and keep her dry, but she could feel that she would need a dose of RadAway in a few hours. She was effectively trapped inside the tiny shack, with only Dogmeat for company. The dog snored softly, his tail twitching as he dreamed. She decided this was a good a time as any.  
She had never been the type to become sentimental over objects, but she held the holodisk in her hand almost reverently, afraid her battle-roughened hands would crush the tiny, delicate thing. She wasn't sure what it said but she knew who it was from, and that was enough to make her chest tighten in longing and sorrow. Carefully, she popped open the top of her Pip-Boy, fitting the holodisk in and snapping the thing shut with a click. She closed her eyes as it began to play.  
The tape started with high-pitched feedback, making her wince and Dogmeat's head pop up, his ears standing straight up as he looked around. Then her husband began to speak.

“Oops.” Nate said with a chuckle as the recorder screeched. He sat at the dining room table holding his infant son, the only light coming from the dimmed stove light. Shaun, who had woken up in the middle of the night crying, reached for the recorder, the spinning tape intriguing to him.  
“Ah-ah, keep little fingers away. There we go.” Nate said, leaning away from the machine, putting it just out of the baby's reach. He cooed softly. He leaned Shaun closer to the recorder, grinning.  
“Just say it, right there, right there, go ahead.” Nate said, tapping the recorder softly as the baby babbled and laughed. Nate laughed as well. “Yay!” he said, and held his son close.  
He took a breath and began speaking into the recorder himself.  
“Hi, honey. Listen...” he paused for a moment, trying to figure out how he could all the things he wanted to tell her in a short period of time.  
“I don't think Shaun and I need to tell you how great of a mother you are, but we're going to anyway.” Nate ran his finger over Shaun's hand as he spoke. “You are kind, and loving...” he started, as Shaun began to giggle. “And funny, that's right.” he took a deep breath. “And patient. So patient, patience of a saint as your mother used to say.” his smile faltered a bit, but he continued.  
“Look, with Shaun and us all being home together, it's been an amazing year... but even so I know our best days are yet to come. There will be changes, sure, things we'll need to adjust to. I'll rejoin the civilian workforce, you'll shake the dust off your law degree.” Nate knew how excited she was to go back to work after her pregnancy and Shaun's birth, and even he felt the relief of going back to a simple nine-to-five office job.  
However, underneath the excitement he could feel the tension, and Nate knew she could as well. But he was certain that they would get through it. They had gotten through worse before.  
“But everything we do, no matter how hard, we do it for our family.” he swallowed thickly, trying not to let emotion get the best of him. In his arms, Shaun babbled away.  
“Now say goodbye, Shaun. Bye bye, say bye bye.” he encouraged as the infant smiled and cooed.  
“Bye honey, we love you.” Nate said, and he hit the stop button on the recorder.

She was silent. The only sound was the rain hitting the tin roof of the darkened shack. She took a deep, shaking breath. Then another. And before she realized it, her deep breaths turned to sobs and she was crying, the numbness she had passed off as bravery crumbling for the first time since she'd emerged from the vault and into her worst nightmares.  
Dogmeat gave her a look that almost seemed concerned as he stood, nudging her with his nose and whining while she wiped her nose on her sleeve. The dog curled up next to her as she drew her knees to her chest and rested her head. Her sobs subsided as she drifted to sleep.


End file.
